By Prince Lazar
Professional in-house security personnel work diligently to achieve robust and leading-edge security programs within all areas of their organisations. They strive to create security programs that will protect their organisation’s people and assets, including the organisation’s brand. They know this will demonstrate to stakeholders the organisation’s commitment to protecting the privacy and security of their clients.
Security is often undermined by cost-cutting
Today, all organisations are under significant economic pressures and have no choice but to search for areas that can yield savings. It is inevitable that security programs will face cost-cutting reviews. And responsible program managers have to be prepared to scrutinise programs to find ways to squeeze out costs without jeopardising safety and security.
Nevertheless, we often hear political leaders respond to the economic crisis by saying organisations must act like that of a family when faced with tough economic realities – ‘tighten their belts and cut back on the non-essentials’. But no responsible politician would ever tell a family that they could cut costs by not installing smoke detectors, or by cancelling their home alarm service, or by not renewing their fire insurance, or by not screening the home care provider that looks after their children or elderly parents.
One of the most costly ways of providing security to an organisation is to do as little as possible until after a significant incident occurs. The message to many Business Heads/CEOs on sanctioning appropriate budget for security would be, ‘Do what you would be willing to do the day after an incident, and if you do it now, it will be less costly and no one will have gotten hurt.’
Everyone is responsible for keeping costs down. One way of doing this in a security program is by building a security culture within your organisation. Asking all employees to contribute by keeping security ‘top of mind’, lessens the cost of security. Working together you can access and manage the risks that your organisation confronts on a daily basis so that you are not merely preparing to respond to incidents.
Managers at all levels must accept responsibility for building a security culture within their organisation. It must be embedded in our business practices. Create a security culture and you will create a shield of deterrence against those who could put your people or your organisation at risk.
This is a key way to ensure your organisation is resilient and has the agility to survive through difficult times. We must strive for continuous improvement to our security programs by constant monitoring, evaluating, exercising, and analysing our programs. Resiliency isn’t one simple security plan, or a checklist – it is a culture, a philosophical approach and a way of ensuring your organisation has a future. READ MORE
